Running Up That Hill
by Horribibble
Summary: And there he was, covered in it: a boy no older than nineteen, skin only lightly touched by the sun, wandering along a desert road. Be careful. He only kills the ones he loves. Leon Squall x Cloud.
1. Dust

**A/N: **I received a request to do some more LxC after putting Chlorine up. I'm sorry it took me so long, but this just came to me recently. I'm a little off my game, after recent events, so please don't pressure me too much. I hope you enjoy. This may likely continue, but only at my leisure.

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**Running Up That Hill**

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_Part One:_

_Dust_

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_

* * *

The traveler was a pretty young man, but there was definitely something wrong there.

As if, at some point, a stone had been thrown, and part of him cracked. As if the yellow age of the world around him were seeping in slowly, sifting under his skin. He was, in some means of spirit, _dusty_.

And there he was, covered in it: a boy no older than nineteen, skin only lightly touched by the sun, wandering along a desert road.

He was a patchwork mirage—a shifting image with a threadbare t-shirt, shredded jeans, dented sneakers, and some old leather jewelry—all caked in dirt and knowledge.

Every now and then, as cars passed by, he would stand by the shoulder and watch, big blue eyes wide and near-haunting.

Each car and truck that passed by, sweeping past with a new shifting layer of dust, was filled with little worlds. Each world, rushing by, felt the shift of that figure in the dust, that impermanent boy, watching them back before moving on.

He walked for a long time, stopping eventually at a pile of warm rocks with a resolve to let his sun-baked bones have some rest. His old canvas bag, dangling from one shoulder, seemed like a tattered old standard, born along by tired determination and nothing else.

Soft hands reached into a side pocket, retrieving a small canteen—too heated from the sun to do anything but keep a body working—and bringing it up to his chapped lips.

He relaxed for a brief moment, looking out into the wasted distance.

He had no idea where he was going.

He was absolutely unconscious of any sort of future, because there _wasn't _one.

And in that moment of quiet aimlessness, he heard the rumble of an engine.

He looked up from his makeshift seat, and found his world in mid-collision.

There at the shoulder, grumbling more than purring was an old, hand-me-down, use-me-up pick-up truck with the passenger window rolled down.

There at the wheel, straightening from where he'd leaned to lower the window, sat a matching driver.

He looked to be his own unique calamity, gray-eyed and brown-haired, with a familiar look and a harsh scar.

Scars like that told more stories than there were grains of sand.

He said, "You lost?"

And the traveler said, "Now that I think about it."

Pretty-boy Pick-up nodded like that was completely normal.

And the dusty little world-wrecker found himself moving for the door handle and hoisting himself in.

"Leon." The driver offered, turning his eyes back to the road as his new passenger strapped himself in.

"…Cloud. Are you planning on taking advantage of me, 'Leon'?"

"No." Leon snorted, pulling back onto the road, "I've got shit luck with blondes."

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_It doesn't hurt me._

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**A/N: **If you liked it, review. This should continue, but I'd like to know your feelings.


	2. Truck

**A/N: **And now I've got so many running projects, I think I may go mad. I'm debating switching this story to the Kingdom Hearts category, as it may fit better there. I am strongly considering tossing at least Sora and Roxas in here.

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**Running Up That Hill**

_Part Two:_

_Truck_

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_

The a/c in Leon's truck was on its last legs, struggling desperately to be of some use.

It made little difference whether the windows were up or down. Leon had his rolled down already, one ratty denim-clad arm resting on the sill.

He seemed regal, somehow, as Cloud studied him. Unbothered, but not untroubled. This man had seen plenty of conflict, and he had faced it head-on. There was a fearlessness in him—one that Cloud envied.

For the time being, Cloud was safe. For the time it took for the old machine to make its next destination, he could rest, if only slightly.

After that, he was gone. He had to be. But he would do his best to leave this man's world just the way he had found it.

It was troubled, but it was intact.

"Can I...?" Cloud's fingers brushed the crank-handle, twitching at the feel of hot cloth. He was eager for the feel of the wind, arid or otherwise, but this rumbling old monster wasn't his to toy with.

Those wide blue eyes could be a trap, but Leon didn't look. "No one's stopping you."

And it was true.

* * *

Leon was nothing if not observant, and there were a lot of things to observe here.

This thing—this Cloud—was caught somewhere between boy and man, buried in dirt and dust and nervous eyes and fingers.

Looking at him, Leon was immediately struck by the sense that the blonde was being swallowed. He was struggling, definitely, but that didn't mean he would _win._

Cloud was impermanent.

Something Tifa would call a 'damaged creature'.

As if Cloud was something that could be fixed like a fussy engine.

Leon pictured the boy crumbling into dust and blowing out the window.

What could it hurt to give him a ride? To give him just a little bit longer?

"It'll be cold, come sunset."

"It's always cold at night."

He would know.

* * *

Leon sighed, glancing sideways at his companion.

In the hours since he'd picked him up, they'd exchanged only a handful of clipped sentences. In this space, they were suspended. Cloud sighed, as if in response, chest rising and falling with a slight hitch. Almost crying.

With every hitch, Leon felt his own determination build. He couldn't watch this boy suffer on shotgun. It forced him to remember what he worked to forget.

"I'm headed to Balamb. If you need a stop before that, you'll have to let me know."

"Ah...," Cloud's eyes focused, turning back to the driver, "No."

"No?"

"I don't have any place in mind. If you can take me as far as Balamb, I'll be grateful."

"You plan to stay for...?"

"I don't know. As long as I'm comfortable."

There was silence for a while, and Cloud went back to his own thoughts.

He'd been at this for a long time, hadn't he?

"We'll stop in Kody tonight. We'll grab some food and you can wash off all that dirt."

Cloud nodded, and the silence softened.

Dust rises in a cloud under the tires.

It's behind them, but it's stirred up all the same.

* * *

_You wanna feel how it feels?  
_

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**A/N: **Sorry it took so long. There's a lot happening, and it's hard to think.. Again, in case you didn't see it at the top, this is probably getting switched over to Kingdom Hearts territory, as I'll have some of those characters running about.


	3. Scars

**A/N: **So sorry for the wait. I hope all of you find this next chapter fitting. From here on out, the chapters should be getting longer. :)

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**Running Up That Hill**

_Part Three:_

_Scars_

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True to his word, Leon ended the day's travels in Kody, a speck on the map town that seemed to be almost entirely focused on its life-giving main street.

The sign welcoming travelers was nearly rusted into oblivion, which summed the entire place up in a neatly ironic little package. A few questionable hotels littered the thoroughfare, along with a few paycheck to paycheck storefronts and chain restaurants. The town's only gas station was, apparently, a few minutes down the road, at the 'other end', as Leon said.

Cloud returned his gaze to the passing, dirty shop fronts as the truck growled a warning at the night's destination. As if this hole of a town might swallow them up.

If you weren't looking for this place, there was no way in hell you'd find it.

Cloud blew dirtied blonde bangs from where they'd fallen in his face, watching as they floated for a thin moment before falling uselessly back in place.

_If only it were that easy._

* * *

Leon watched him for a moment, waiting with one eyebrow arched for the other man to come floating back to the world _under _the dust clouds.

The car was stopped, parked in front of the registration office, but Cloud hadn't moved an inch. Just kept staring off at the town as if it were some great lumbering artifact, wandering off into the ether. It was easy to picture this kid drifting right along with it.

Leon rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to grunt as he jolted his door open and stepped down—he never hopped; that was fucking stupid.—onto the crunching ground. Still nothing.

Something sympathetic inside his old, worn-leather heart (sometimes he hated that thing) told him to leave it be. He didn't have to hold hands while he checked them in. No one was going to kidnap the jaded blonde in the five minutes it took to rent a room around here. (Less, if you flashed cleavage, Tifa had told him once.)

The boy made a pretty picture, perched in the passenger's seat like a waiting damsel. The homebody manning the desk made a point of directing several meaningful looks between _him _and the scowling brunette inquiring about the vacancy, but it ground to a halt with a threatening, "He's a nun. Do you have a room, or not?"

Never had a double been so cheap in this town.

* * *

Cloud was content to steep in his own, fraying tea-bag world until the truck shifted and the old metal door of the driver's side slammed closed again.

He jerked forward on fresh instinct, breathing fast as he recalled Leon by quick study. "What...?"

And the brunette moved again, shaking his head as he moved to restart and relocate the vehicle, "You need sleep. I booked us a double, so you won't have to bunk with me."

"You didn't have to." He protested half-heartedly, caught somewhere between feeling unwanted and being repulsed by the thought of human contact.

He was grateful, he guessed, but this just meant he _owed _the man.

It might have been intuition that prompted Leon to answer, "Yeah I did."

* * *

Apparently, clean towels weren't included in that low room rate.

Cloud stared at the empty rack bolted in its precarious position over the toilet, his dry throat working to formulate some awkward query.

Leon sighed, leaning against the doorway with a soft 'thud', "No towels?"

"Not really, no." The blonde answered softly, mild irritation curling the edges of his tone as one hand toyed with the hem of his old t-shirt.

An almost imperceptible shrug of Leon's shoulders, emphasized only by the sinking of his form in the door's frame, "Go ahead and get in. I'll go lean on the clerk for a couple new ones."

Cloud shifted on his feet, looking up as if subconsciously searching for approval before beginning to toe off a ratty sneaker.

His companion moved in some strange semblance of grace, pulling himself from the battered frame and sliding his hands in his pockets before taking the first step back out of the room.

"I'll lock it behind me." He called.

The squeak-and-rush sound of the shower starting was his only reply.

* * *

The only indication Cloud received was a dull rapping at the door before Leon marched in. At the sound of the door thumping open, the blonde froze, head whipped to the side and eyes wide.

For his part, Leon paused, maintaining eye contact for a moment or two before allowing his gaze to travel slowly downward. Not lustful, and not analytical, just calmly surveying the patchwork of scars and bruises hatching his back, as if he were taking the little pieces of information and placing them neatly together.

Cloud could almost _feel _his muscles quivering just under the skin, his stomach winding taut and his feet flexing, preparing to get the hell out of dodge.

He didn't _like _being watched. It might have turned him on, once, but not anymore. He made no attempt to hide himself, just eyed up the distance between himself and the exit.

Then, all of a sudden, it was gone.

The moment, and everything that came with it, rolled off of Leon's lowering shoulders. A slight motion of his wrist, and the towels landed softly on the counter top.

The brunette angled himself away, moving back toward the door. He stopped only briefly, his chin lowered—a single step before turning. It was almost an afterthought.

"You need disinfectant?"

The answer was a wet, quiet, "No."

The water beat steadily against the cheap shower floor, and the door clicked shut.

* * *

At the very least, Cloud expected the flood to come when he stepped out of the bathroom, jeans slung low on his hips, towel draped loose over his shoulders, and his t-shirt and shoes dangling from his fingertips.

His toes curled nervously in the newly-damp carpeting as Leon glanced over from the bed—his bed—closer to the door. Cloud wasn't sure how he felt about the arrangement, but his paranoia took the backseat for the time being.

He opened his mouth to say something—possibly bitter, antagonistic, and aggressively defensive—but nothing came out. Instead, his eyes came to rest on the brunette's strong features, resting hollow feather-light on the scar dividing his face.

The man didn't move, didn't tense, didn't make the slightest indication that anything had happened. "The food around here's nothing to write home about, so I grabbed some fruit and a couple of water bottles."

That's all.

Nothing else.

Cloud felt his muscles loosen, one by one, and spread that scar over his back.

* * *

The following morning, Cloud didn't say much.

He just sat quietly, watching from his place on the passenger's side.

As they rumbled into the gas station, Cloud reached into the heel of his sneaker and pulled out a few crumpled bills, eying them as if he were losing his last precious friends.

He offered them up, open-palmed as the brunette lifted himself back behind the wheel, but Leon shook his head, closing slim fingers back over the thin paper strips, "You can pay me back with grunt labor. I could use a hand unloading the shit in the back once we reach Balamb."

It was a commitment, but Cloud found himself agreeing to it, anyway.

* * *

_You wanna know—know that it doesn't hurt me?_

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_**A/N: **_The story is, for the most part, plotted out. I hope all of you enjoy the things to come. Also, things pick up in the next chapter. Scout's honor.


End file.
